Ros., Guil. We will, my lord.

[Exeunt ROSEN. and GUIL.

Ham. What ho! Horatio!

Enter HORATIO

Hor. Here, sweet lord, at your service. Ham, Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man As e'er my conversation coped withal.

Hor. Oh, my dear lord,

Ham.

Nay, do not think I flatter;

For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revénue hast but thy good spirits

To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flattered?

No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee

Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath sealed thee for herself; for thou hast been
As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing;
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Hast ta'en with equal thanks; and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled
That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man

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That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
Something too much of this. -

As I do thee..

There is a play to-night before the king;
One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my father's death.
80 I pr'ythee, when thou see'st that act a-foot,
Even with the very comment of thy soul
Observe mine uncle; if his occulted guilt
Do not itself unkennel in one speeeh,
It is a damnèd ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul

As Vulcan's stithy. Give him heedful note;
For I mine eyes will rivet to his face,

And after we will both our judgments join
In censure of his seeming.

Hor.

Well, my lord;

90 If he steal aught the whilst this play is playing,

And 'scape detecting, I will pay the theft.

Ham. They are coming to the play; I must be idle: Get you a place.

Danish march; flourish. Enter KING, QUEEN, POLONIUS, OPHELIA, ROSENcrantz, GUILDENSTERN, and other Lords attendant, with the Guard carrying torches

King. How fares our cousin Hamlet?

Ham. Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish: I eat the air, promise-crammed: you cannot feed capons so.

King. I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not mine.

Ham. No, nor mine now. - -[To POLONIUS] My 100 lord, you played once in the university, you say?

Pol. That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good actor.

Ham. And what did you enact?

Pol. I did enact Julius Cæsar; I was killed i' the Capitol; Brutus killed me.

Ham. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there. Be the players ready?

Ros. Ay, my lord; they stay upon your patience.

Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me. 110 Ham. No, good mother; here's metal more attractive.

Pol. [To the KING] Oh, ho! do you mark that?
Oph. You are merry.

Ham. O God, your only jig-maker. What should a man do but be merry? for, look you, how cheer

fully my mother looks, and my father died within 's 120 two hours.

Oph. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my lord.

Ham. So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear black, for I'll have a suit of sables. O heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten yet? Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year; but by-'r-lady, he must build churches then ; or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with the hobby-horse, whose epitaph is, "For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot."

Hautboys play. The dumb show enters

Enter a KING and a QUEEN, very lovingly; the QUEEN embracing him and he her. She kneels, and makes show of protestation unto him. He takes her up, and declines his head upon her neck: lays him down upon a bank of flowers; she, seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, kisses it, and pours poison in the KING's ears, and exit. The QUEEN returns; finds the KING dead, and makes passionate action. The POISONER, with some two or three Mutes, comes in again, seeming to lament with her. The dead body is carried away. The POISONER woos the QUEEN with gifts; she seems

loath and unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts his love.

Oph. What means this, my lord?

[Exeunt

Ham. Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief.

Oph. Belike this show imports the argument of the play.

Enter Prologue

Ham. We shall know by this fellow; the players cannot keep counsel; they'll tell all.

Oph. Will he tell us what this show meant?

Ham. Ay, or any show.

Oph. I'll mark the play.

Pro. For us, and for our tragedy,

Here stooping to your clemency,

We beg your hearing patiently.

Ham. Is this a prologue or the posy of a ring?

Oph. 'Tis brief, my lord.

Ham. As woman's love.

Enter two Players, KING and QUEEN

P. King. Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone

round

Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbèd ground,

And thirty dozen moons with borrowed sheen

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